Category: Back Page

On July 29, in the main event of UFC 214, light heavyweight great Jon Jones will attempt to reclaim the title he once guarded so ferociously when he takes on the reigning champ and his biggest rival, Daniel Cormier. In advance of this fight, Jones’ striking coach Mike Winkeljohn says that Jones – who has always been an innovator when it comes to technique – is still adding new weapons to his arsenal. Winkeljohn, guarantees the former UFC light heavyweight champion will not only show up for his UFC 214…

It’s been a weird few years for Kell Brook. Brook’s victory over Shawn Porter in 2014, a then undefeated American who looked as if he may become the man in the welterweight division following Floyd Mayweather’s retirement, should have been his coming out party. He was now a proven elite welterweight and the division may have been his for the taking. It also looked as if he may finally gain a domestic super fight against Amir Khan, and maybe fights against Manny Pacquiao, Keith Thurman or Danny Garcia. Instead, he…

Call me Ishmael. Connor McGregor fighting Floyd Mayweather is sports new white whale. The fight surfaces for air every now and then, and grizzled fight writers and fans, like Ahab aboard the Pequod, sight and, despite our better judgment, set a course for it. The fight interests and disgusts in almost equal measure. Just like the great white whale could be the death of Ahab and his whole crew, the fight could generate obscene amounts of cash yet land a telling blow to the integrity of both MMA and boxing….

November 19th sees that most rare of events. Two unbeaten, elite, pound for pound contenders in the same weight class, meeting in a squared circle. The fighters in questions are Andre ‘Son of God’ Ward, (30-0, 15 Kos) and Sergey ‘Krusher’ Kovalev (29-0-1, 26 KOs). Kovalev currently holds the WBA, IBF light heavyweight titles, whereas Ward the WBO strap, all of which will all be on the line in the T-Mobile arena on the Las Vegas strip. The fight is a mouth-watering clash of styles. Kovalev is a brutal boxer…

Big time boxing returned to Leeds arena in April. The headline act, as always, was the super popular Josh Warrington, defending his WBC international featherweight title. Warrington beat the ultra-tough, tricky Tokyo based Hisashi Amagasa over 12 rounds in front of a rabid crowd, picking up scores of 118-111, 117-111, and, ludicrously, 120-107. Warrington did win the fight, starting an ending the contest very well, but Amagasa appeared, from ringside at least, to drag himself back into the fight during the middle section. Amagasa flung unorthodox shots with his long…

Of all the mega fight of recent years, Khan vs Canelo is the most left field. It was widely expected that the Mexican superstar Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez was due to take on Gennady Golovkin in a fight for (more or less) the unified middleweight title. Khan, after missing out on the big names of Mayweather Jr and Pacquiao, was expected to finally agree to a domestic dust up with Kell Brook at welterweight. Instead, with little notice, the imminent fight was announced raking even the most knowledgeable insider by surprise….

Very little about David Haye is conventional. Articulate, opinionated and a superb athlete, he made a career out of making his own choices and dictating his own terms in and out of the ring. And it appears he’s back… and as unconventional as ever. Weighing in significantly heavier than ever before and looking in great shape, Haye made light work out of knocking out over matched Australian Mark De Mori on Freeview channel Dave and in an apparently sold out 02 arena inside one round last month. My first reaction…

Leicester City’s dream campaign shows no signs of stopping. The Foxes sit at the number two spot of the Premier League (2 points off Arsenal), despite starting the season as one of the favourites to be relegated. The Foxes incredible form has been the undisputed success story of the Premier League so far this season. But how has the club, only promoted to England’s elite division in 2014 after a 10-year absence, done it? “They will fall away eventually. It will never last.” This was and still is in some parts,…

by James Oddy 2015 was a magical year for British boxing. Newly crowned world champions and entertaining mouth-watering domestic fights, British boxers are enjoying a golden era. Here we look back at which boxing personalities rose to the pinnacle in 2015. INTERNATIONAL BOXER OF THE YEAR – Tyson Fury Love him or loathe him, the Lancastrian giant shocked the world in late November by beating Wladimir Klitschko. Many felt Fury would get blown away; some felt he would be out-boxed by a long term world champion. Instead, Fury moved intelligently…

by James Oddy Boxing and boxers are built on hype. Some boxers never get the publicity, money or fights that they deserve because they ultimately don’t justify the risk/reward for an established fighter. On the other hand, some boxers will continue to get big pay days regardless of how much they deserve them, because they represent guaranteed money for everyone involved. You rarely get many 50/50 fights these days at the elite level, which is a crying shame. The likes of Provodnikov/Matthyssee, McDonnel/Kameda are exceptions rather than the rule. I…